Annually more than 10000 children are born with thalassemia in India. While countries like Pakistan and Dubai have made carrier testing compulsory for relatives of thalassaemia patients India lacks a robust prevention and control program. Severe form of thalassaemia leads to anaemia which is playing a contributory role in the high anaemia rates in the country. In urban Gurgaon only around 63%of children between the ages of 6 to 59 months are anaemic with thalassaemia being a significant causative factor. India is one of the worst thalassemia infected countries in the world with more than 4 crore carriers and over